The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for evaluating a fault condition in a building.
Many commercial buildings today are equipped with a variety of energy-consuming devices. For example, a commercial building may be equipped with various heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) devices that consume energy to regulate the temperature in the building. Other exemplary types of building equipment that consume energy may include lighting fixtures, security equipment, data networking infrastructure, and other such equipment.
The energy efficiency of commercial buildings has become an area of interest in recent years. In many areas of the world, commercial buildings consume a good portion of the generated electricity available on an electric grid. For an energy provider, the energy efficiency of commercial buildings that it services helps to alleviate strains placed on the provider's electrical generation and transmission assets. For a building's operator, energy efficiency corresponds to greater financial savings, since less energy is consumed by the building.
A building fault presents one potential cause for a building's energy consumption to be higher than normal. For example, a building's HVAC system may include an outdoor air damper that regulates the amount of outdoor air that enters the building. On a hot day, the building's HVAC system may take in outdoor air via the outdoor air damper, chill the received air, and use the chilled air to provide cooling to the internal areas of the building. However, if the outdoor air valve is stuck fully open (e.g., a fault exists), the building's HVAC system may receive a greater volume of hot outdoor air than is needed to regulate the internal temperature of the building. In such a case, the building's HVAC system may consume more energy than is needed to chill the additional hot air.
It is challenging and difficult to analyze the impact of a building fault on the energy consumption of the building and its corresponding financial impact.